giants of the era

Chapter 124 The Difficult and Outstanding Battle

The phone in the office jingled suddenly, Li Zetian picked it up and asked, "Hello, who is it?"

"Hello, Chronos, I'm Li Jiacheng."

"Oh, Mr. Li, hello, what's the matter?" Li Zetian asked, wondering what Li Jiacheng meant by calling at this time.

"Oh, that's right,"

Li Jiacheng hesitated for a moment, and said, "Hong Kong real estate is showing a rising trend, and Cheung Kong Enterprises plans to invest a huge amount of money to enter the market. You have talked to me about investing in Apple before. I am really sorry. If there is a chance in the future, let's cooperate again..."

Li Zetian's face changed slightly when he heard the words. Obviously, Li Jiacheng saw that Apple was in trouble, so he no longer planned to invest.

"Okay, if there is nothing else, I will hang up first, I have some things to be busy here!" Li Zetian didn't want to waste any time, so he found an excuse to end the call as soon as possible.When Apple's profits are good, everyone is scrambling to invest in it. Once Apple is in trouble, it's too late for them to run...

"Okay, okay, then I won't bother you!" Li Jiacheng said.

After hanging up the phone, Li Zetian snorted coldly, and said with a sneer, "It doesn't matter if you don't invest, who cares! You still want to invest in Apple in the future - there is no way!!!"

Li Zetian had just finished complaining about Li Jiacheng when there was a knock on the door, and Tian Shuai walked in with an unnatural expression.

"Mr. Li, Mr. Maxwell from First Intercontinental Bank is here and is waiting for you in the reception room..."

Li Zetian frowned when he heard this, "Is he here to press us to pay back the loan?"

"should be……"

Li Zetian nodded, stood up without saying anything, "Let's go, go meet this creditor!"

Soon, the two came to the reception room, and Maxwell sat upright in a chair, showing no expression on his face.

"Hello, Mr. Maxwell." Li Zetian said hello, and then asked directly, "I wonder what business you are here at Apple?"

"Chronos, Apple has borrowed a total of US$2000 million in loans from First Intercontinental Bank, and the board of directors of the bank hopes that Apple can repay the loan as soon as possible!" Maxwell said lukewarmly.

"Mr. Maxwell, First Intercontinental Bank thinks that Apple is failing, so we want us to repay the loan right away?" Li Zetian said bluntly and bluntly.

Maxwell smiled awkwardly, organizing words in his mind.

But before he could say it, Li Zetian said: "Mr. Maxwell, let's open the skylight and speak brightly. I think you should know the current situation of Apple. So, can you give Apple a little time? You know, we need to get more information from retailers. It will take some time to recover the payment there!"

"Sure, how about a month?" Maxwell said.

Li Zetian said in a deep voice: "How can one month be enough? At least three months!"

"Two months, this is the longest I can fight for Apple!"

Li Zetian was silent for a moment, nodded and said, "Okay! Two months is two months!"

Maxwell nodded, then stood up from his chair.

"Apple must repay the loan within two months!"

After Maxwell finished speaking, he bid farewell to Li Zetian.

As soon as Maxwell left, Apple employees started talking privately.

"Mr. Maxwell is not here to press our company to repay the loan!"

"It must be, that's right! When Mr. Maxwell came to our company, which time was it not a smiling face, did you see him smiling this time?"

"Damn it, bankers are so fucking snobby! They're going to make trouble!"

"It goes without saying, look at the guys on Wall Street, which one is not a demon who can eat people without spitting out their bones?"

"You can't say that. Apple is indeed in big trouble, and the bank is also worried that its loan will become a bad debt."

"Anyway, I don't like bankers very much!"

"..."

At this moment, Li Zetian and Tian Shuai were talking in the office.

Li Zetian asked: "How much money does Apple still have?"

"There are still more than 5000 million US dollars on the books, but we have not yet paid for the Walkman and Apple-ll accessories suppliers. In addition, the company has more than 400 employees, and a month's wages have to pay more than 500 million US dollars. "

Li Zetian frowned and said, "If we repay the bank loan of 2000 million US dollars, we will only have more than 3000 million US dollars left. The financial pressure is very great!"

"Yes," Tian Shuai nodded, "As for the retailer's payment, I'm afraid we won't be able to collect it for a while!"

Li Zetian thought for a while and said: "In order to save money, the construction of Apple's new headquarters stopped immediately, and the three factories in Hong Kong announced the suspension of work. At present, the company stops expanding and suspends the development speed. Accelerate development."

"Well, that's all there is to it."

……

At this moment, Zhang Han cheerfully ordered people to post the new announcement on the glass doors and windows of Apple's flagship store, and the "Anti-Walkman Alliance" got the news immediately.

"Apple is too shameless to repeat the old trick and start guiding people to buy pirated tapes in grocery stores, convenience stores, supermarkets, bookstores, etc.!"

"Hey, although it's the old trick, it's very effective. Many people actually go to these places to ask if there are any pirated tapes!"

"..."

Everyone is very popular, I didn't expect Apple to be so difficult to deal with!

Of course, Apple isn't having a good time right now.

Not only banks are dunning, but even parts suppliers are also dunning.

At this time, the media have bad-mouthed Apple.Of course, behind this is ultimately the fall of Apple's competitors.

"Wall Street Journal" reported: "Walkman was opposed by most of the record companies, resulting in unsalable products. Apple encountered Waterloo for the first time, and the company faced a huge crisis. Standard & Poor's re-credited Apple. Its AA grade has been downgraded to CCC grade. It is reported that First Intercontinental Bank has asked Apple to repay the loan..."

"New York Daily" reported: "Apple is now facing a crisis of bankruptcy due to blind expansion! The Walkman tape player has become Apple's most failed product, and it is also the culprit that led to Apple's bankruptcy!"

"USA Today" reported: "The legendary myth of Chinese-American billionaire Chronos Li is about to fall!!!"

"..."

Almost all the news was bad-mouthing Apple and Li Zetian. Li Zetian himself was fine and ignored it, but the atmosphere in the company became more and more tense, and many employees were panicked.

Apple's competitors have not let go of this opportunity.

Soon, Apple employees were poached by people from other companies one after another. This made Tian Shuai very anxious, and hurriedly held a meeting to discuss countermeasures!
Tian Shuai said: "Mr. Li, in order to retain talents, I suggest setting up an equity incentive mechanism with more shares!"

Li Zetian nodded and said, "I agree with your suggestion, let's take another 10%!"

After finishing speaking, he glanced at the others and asked, "Do you have any other good suggestions?"

The crowd shook their heads.

"Then do as Tian Shuai said! In addition, department managers should strengthen communication with employees and talk to them about feelings, culture, and ideals. Although we don't have money now, we can promise them a happy future." future!" Li Zetian paused for a while, and said, "If they still want to leave, then there is nothing we can do. It's going to rain, and my mother is going to marry, let him go. Those who can stay and share the troubles with Apple , is the person Apple needs most!"

"Yes!!!"

When everyone heard the words, they couldn't help but feel passionate and enthusiastic.

After the meeting, the content of the meeting quickly spread throughout the company, and Apple's morale was significantly improved.However, there are still people who can't stand the temptation of high salaries from other companies, coupled with Apple's difficult situation and bleak future, so they leave.Li Zetian personally sent them away every time. Before leaving, he said to them: "Think about it clearly. If you walk out of this gate today, it will not be so easy to come back later!"

"Mr. Li, I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do..."

Li Zetian waved his hand and said, "Let's go, I can guarantee that you will regret it in the future!"

These people left in despair, most of them were poached by Li Zetian from other companies, and now they also tasted the feeling of being poached from their own company.

"Jack Ma is right. Talents poached from other companies have no sense of belonging to the company... It seems that in the future, we must train talents from our own company and establish a standard and scientific talent training system!"

In the following period of time, Apple experienced arduous and outstanding battles, facing many troubles including users' difficulties, bank and accessory suppliers' payment reminders, retail department store groups' delays in payment, and media's bad-mouthing.

Li Zetian is under the greatest pressure, and his face has become a little haggard recently. He often calls Zhang Hao to his office to inquire about the situation of pirated tapes.Every time I hear that the number of pirated tapes is increasing, I feel better.

At this moment, someone is very happy, and this person is Wang Lie.

The worse Apple is, the happier he is.

He hugged his new girlfriend, a sexy and beautiful fair-skinned blonde foreign girl, and said triumphantly: "Among the Chinese, my father Wang An is the most powerful and famous. Chronos Li is nothing!"

April is the most difficult period for Apple, and Wang Lie has been in a good mood.

However, in mid-May, the situation changed drastically! ! !

PS: A new week is about to begin, please subscribe, various requests
　Some of the book friends are also called Wang Lie... Hehe, this is purely a coincidence.But congratulations, you made a big villain

　　
　
(End of this chapter)